Here Without You
by MibuWolf
Summary: An argument leads to Sanosuke and Megumi splitting up and going their seperate ways. Now she's in Aizu, and hes off wandering in China, but they still can't get over their heartbreaking split. Will they get back together? Find out in this fic.
1. The Biggest Regret

Disclaimer: innocent look… nope, I didn't steal Rurouni Kenshin. That guy did…points to a random person

Author's Note: Never liked how it ended with Sanosuke and Megumi in Rurouni Kenshin, both in the manga (separating in their different ways) and anime (sayo, sayo, whiny old b-tchy Sayo). So here's my look at how it should have ended… years later (but not Seisouhen-style). Inspired by 3 Doors Down song. Long live them.

Here Without You

Chapter: The Biggest Regret

Takani Megumi glared at the tall man standing in front of her. Glared hard, willing her anger to shoot out at him and stab him hard.

Sagara Sanosuke. The very object of her hate.

All she wanted right now was to beat him senseless until every bone in him was broken. Because right now she hated him with every fibre of her.

"I'm leaving." Sanosuke repeated himself. Damn her, why wasn't she listening? "My ship sets sail tomorrow morning, and by next season I'll probably arrive on the coast of wherever I'm heading to."

Megumi said nothing. Just kept glaring at him, hatred pouring out of her like water out of a vessel.

He, too, was filled with negative emotion, but more with anger at her lack of understanding.

" There's no gurantee that I'm coming back, Kit-" Sanosuke reached out to touch her but the lady doctor gave him a sharp slap.

"So go! I don't care!" she retorted. "Why would I be bothered with a useless, idle bum like you!"

As soon as she said that, Megumi turned away from him, hiding her beautiful face from his gaze so he could not see the tears flowing down her cheeks like shiny rivers.

Sanosuke swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth, then nodded curtly.

"Fine," he said simply, "I won't regret leaving all this shit behind anyway."

The door slammed shut as he walked out.

…

Megumi awoke, shivering a little in the coldness of the night breeze. Funny, her dream seemed so real, as if she had been transported back in time to that fateful night in Tokyo, about three years ago.

Three years already?

The lady doctor had long forgotten what their argument was really about. Their previous squabbles weren't that bad, only over minor disagreements… but this one had proved to be a really bad fight.

Initially, she felt torn by his departure. There wasn't one morning when she hadn't woken to find herself sobbing uncontrollably, unable to stop the tears from flowing out. Why, why did she hurl those words of hurt at him?

The hurt in his eyes… the disappointment when she finally told him what she thought of him: a useless, idle bum.

Now, if she had any wish, Megumi would ask for all those words to be taken back, every single sentence. Anything to erase the last trace of her biggest mistake.

Her greatest regret.

…

Meanwhile, across many miles in China, the man who had caused so much hurt and pain to Megumi tossed and turned on his futon before opening his eyes.

Dammit, he cursed inwardly, running a calloused hand through his hair which had grown longer over the past years. _It's still morning, way before dawn. Why can't I catch some sleep without having it interrupted?_

Sanosuke turned over and tried to get back to sleep, but the image of Megumi as he last saw her kept repeating itself in his mind. Finally, he gave up and with a well-chosen swear word, got out of bed.

He walked out of the hack he called 'home' and stood there facing the sea as he pondered on his dream. It was years since that argument had taken place, the insults they hurled at each other which drove the wedge deeper between them were long forgotten now, but-

"To hell with it," Sanosuke muttered. So if he had left Japan with a vow never to look back on his past, why suddenly had this memory come back to him like never before?

The former Zanza punched the wall angrily, taking care not to smash it open. _Damn that Takani woman, _he thought, _Of all the trouble women bring- she killed people with her deadly opium, flirted constantly with Kenshin just to make Jou-chan jealous and worse of all, walked on everyone when her little adventure was over._

That day when she announced that she was returning back to Aizu to work there and look for her family, his world came crashing apart…

Heck, he didn't need her! He never needed anybody, not when he was a young kid, running about on his own after Souzou and the rest were killed. Megumi was out of his life now, left behind with all the deeds he shouldn't have committed; his greatest regret.

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Author's Note: very, very short chapter one. Very crappy. Needs work. Please tell me where it needs re-constructing.

This fic is also kind of an answer to mistress-cadaver's review to my other fic, Kitsune's Confessions. Hope I didn't overdo the angst theme for this one. It's going to be very VERY angsty and it involves Sanosuke putting his Futae no Kiwami to good use and Megumi screaming and throwing stuff at the wall or something…

Angsty version of Timless Love, hoho.

Until the next update! See ya! Jane! –grin5- mC


	2. Loner in Aizu

Author's Note: hello everyone. A thousand and one apologies for keeping everyone waiting… argh! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Yeah. Here's the revised version of chapter two 'cuz the older version's obviously sh-tty… people please read it anyway 'cuz there's a new character I'm adding in. woota.

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Here Without You

Chapter Two: Loner in Aizu

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The sky grew darker, as one by one the townsfolk packed up and left for their homes. Gradually, the number of patients dwindled until Takani Megumi was the only one remaining in the clinic.

Megumi locked up the clinic and made her way home to the tiny apartment she rented. There she would go in as quietly as she could, sometimes even tip-toeing, to avoid disturbing her neighbours.

As usual, the woman known to many as Dr Takani walked down the same lane to the same silent house where she lived alone. Many wondered what an attractive, aspiring lady such as herself was doing by herself without a family of her own.

Megumi knew why: fate would deny her to have the privilege of having someone to look after, someone who would remain by her side through all the seasons of spring through winter.

But it wasn't always this way. Some time ago, back in Tokyo, where she still treated ailments under the guidance of Dr Gensai, she would always be accompanied by his granddaughters who would tail her like two kittens hungry for milk. Or, when she knocked off really late, there would be someone waiting to take her home, to watch out for her and make sure she was safe, to protect her-

Sagara Sanosuke.

He had always waited up for her, even though it meant giving up his sleep and her having to listen to his complaints about her working late and not getting enough proper rest.

He always came for her, right from the very beginning.

But that was in the past now, a façade of history that continued to linger in the dark corner of her mind.

Often, many a neighbour would gossip to their friend and ask the same question over and over: Why was a single woman staying in a rented apartment all by herself? Didn't a doctor of the most prestigious family deserve a thousand palaces and more?

The answer, if anyone had bothered to ask the doctor personally and if she was willing to answer it, was simple: she had no family left. No one to go to, no home to return to.

Megumi had returned to Aizu in hopes of finding her family whom she had lost at an early age, with a prayer uttered to the one above to help her find them. After all, as Kenshin had once said to her, maybe they were actually separated and were looking for the missing relative of theirs as well.

But it turned out that they really were dead. She had even visited the tombstones which marked their final resting place.

After that she decided to move in alone. Every night when it was very late and the bright stars looked down upon a freezing, empty landscape, the lone woman would find her way home…

To an empty space. Not just in her house, but worse, in her own heart.

Which she once filled with… many close ones.

Many a night, she awoke to find her pillow soaked with tears, her face streaked, her vision blurred, as she struggled to make out where she was.

Such is the way that loneliness gets to individuals.

At first, she cried over realizing that her family's deaths were a reality and not a nightmare. To know for sure that your loved ones are forever gone, to have a hope that is crushed, to wake up from that blissful dream of fantasies…

Then, as the facts began to sink in, she remembered that fateful night when she and Sanosuke had broken up after their bitter argument. How she wished… how she wished she could turn back time so she could amend that mistake, to take those words back.

So maybe there might be someone to take her home every night.

And much more…

…

_The lady doctor stared up at the tall man who had just saved her right in front of Kanryuu's mansion. _

_Was he mad? She wondered. How did he even dare to take down one of Shinomore Aoshi's men right in front of his mansion when he could be watching for all they knew?_

_Why did he even bother to come after her?_

…

_Megumi fingered the dagger in her hands, her delicate fingers slowly gracing the cold-edged blade. _

_How nice if she could end her life right now… maybe that would make up for the lives taken by her deadly opium. And… she need not face Sanosuke anymore…_

_She was about to plunge it right into her heart when suddenly…_

"_You fool!" It was Sanosuke. His angry gaze penetrated right through her as he glared at the dagger which had pierced his hand instead of herself. Kenshin and Yahiko just laid their lives on the line for you! You wanna throw all that away?"_

_Sanosuke…?_

"_Sorry to have kept you waiting," Kenshin apologized, smiling politely._

_Why did he even come for her… when she didn't even deserve to be fetched to the gates of hell for her crimes? _

…

Megumi was so genuinely wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice two dark forms in the shadows headed straight toward her.

"Oof! Gomen nasai, I didn't see you…" she murmured softly, attempting to brush past them.

"Not so fast," the one on her left held out one beefy arm to block her path, preventing her from leaving. Megumi grimaced; the stale smell of beer had hit her. He had obviously been drinking with his buddy.

"Yeah, you're pretty rude, aren't you, lady?" sneered the other one, leering right at her. The lady doctor glared at him; he was definitely standing way too close to her for comfort.

"Waddaya say we take her and teach her some manners?" the first one asked, his speech slurred as the alcohol took effect.

"I don't think so."

The pair turned round to face the speaker, who was a tall, well-built man who appeared to be in his thirties. He wore a brown western suit and a pair of spectacles. In his hand, he held a briefcase that contained some important document or other.

"Whaddiya say?" glowered the drunk brute.

"That's no proper way to treat a young lady," the new-comer went on, as if he was the one giving them a crash course on social graces. "And I'm sure that she does not wish to have your undesirable selves trust into her company."

"Take that back!" the still sober one yelled, raising a fist at him.

The "gentleman" as Megumi would have liked to call him dodged the blow, gripping his wrist like a vice. He held it tightly, his knuckles turning white with the force he used.

"I won't." he stated. "Now go if you want to keep your four limbs."

The men glowered at him, contemplating what to do next, but after a moment they gave in and turned tail.

"And go easy on the booze if you want to keep your liver." He called after them. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Airgato gozaimasu." Megumi thanked him.

"How far is your home? Shall I walk you back?" he asked

"Actually, it's not really far off from here. I think I can manage thanks anyway." Megumi replied, and then quickly hurried off before he could say anything else."

…

The next day, Megumi hurried into the clinic where she worked with a stern but skilled doctor named Dr Fuji. He was a little older than Dr Gensai, but he was the exact opposite of her old mentor.

By the time she arrived at the main office where she reported to him every morning ever since she began working under him, Dr Fuji was already speaking to someone else in the office.

_Probably some new doctor who just got transferred here… _Megumi remarked to herself as she waited for Dr. Fuji to finish his conversation.

"Ah, Dr. Takani." Dr. Fuji said, taking notice of her after a while. "Just the person I wanted. This is my nephew, Hiroshi Fuji."

Megumi's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized him from the previous night. Apparently it was the same for Dr. Fuji's nephew, for he was silenced and did not say anything.

"You two know each other-?" Dr. Fuji asked.

"We ran into each other last night." Megumi cut in quickly. She was not particularly keen on Dr. Fuji knowing anything about her run-in with two drunkards on her way home.

Dr. Fuji nodded. "I see." He said. "Well, Hiro here just came back from America where he was researching on medical science and has brought his knowledge back to Japan. He'll be working in Tokyo next and after hearing that you used to live there, he insisted on taking you with him so you could be his guide, of sorts, and take him around the area so he can get acquainted."

Megumi nodded. "H-hai," she stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"You will leave with him in about a months' time. When you get there, you will be working with him at Dr. Gensai's clinic, where you apprenticed for some time before coming here."

The lady doctor looked up at him. Go back to where she had started out?

At Tokyo?

The very place she left because she didn't want to be in the same place where their heartbreaking split had taken place?

So… she was going back, after all.

It was inevitable that she return to that place.

…

Sanosuke winced a little as she put the finishing touches of the bandage on his fist.

"Gee thanks Hui, I owe you one." He told the girl.

"Sanosuke, how did you get all that splinters in your hand again?" Hui asked, half-questioningly, half-reprimadingly. "Did you go fighting again?"

"Aww jeez, stop nagging Hui!" Sanosuke grumbled, getting up.

"Sanosuke! Come back here you!" Hui yelled after him.

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Author's Note: WHO IS SHE? DON'T STOP READING TILL THE END!

By the way, the Chinese pronnounciation for Megumi's name is "Hui". Ehehheheh. And no they're two different people btw.


	3. Shanghai Noon

Author's Note: Hi all… to be honest I've let down readers with the sucky sounding Chapter Two… here's an explanation: someone is about to enter the story on Megumi's side. 'Nuff said. And since Megumi has made her appearance, time to go on to the world's most loved rooster!

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Here Without You

Chapter Three: Shanghai Noon

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Hui finished bandaging up Sanosuke's hand, noting with a frown the cuts and bruises that were inflicted on the young man's hands. An individual at his age should have calluses on his palms to show the hard work he put in, not injuries that suggested a drunken fight or two.

But Sanouske wasn't like any one of those loud-mouth fellows who never failed to drop by to harass her for a loan or for a buffet on the house.

"Jeez, thanks, Hui." Sanosuke mumbled, getting up from his seat. "I owe you big time for this."

"Sanosuke, you've got to stop getting yourself beat up like that!" Hui called after him, her large brown eyes filled with concern. The tall man strode out of the eating house as if he hadn't heard her, or rather, pretended not to have heard her.

"Hey, Sanosuke!" She called again, louder this time. Hui caught up with him and slapped him on the shoulder rather roughly.

"Ow!" He winced. "How do you expect me to get better if you keep on hitting me like that?"

"Why you-" Hui narrowed her eyes in a (failed) attempt to look sinister and ran after him. A laugh escaped her as she ducked past disapproving customers. "Get back here!"

_I'm going to die from over-exertion of my legs every day. _Sanosuke groaned inwardly. Not that he totally minded, though. Hui was the only one who ever looked in his direction, let alone bother to speak a syllable to him.

Just then, a rather large man with a round belly that would have made Iwanbo run for his money appeared at the door, hence abruptly ending their merry little chase. This time, it was Hui's turn to groan inwardly with displeasure.

Zhou Chu Wei was one whom you adore on the outside and thoroughly depise on the inside.

Confused?

The reasons for these mixed feelings are as such; it would be easy to understand once you met him: Zhou was the richest man in all of Shanghai, with enough business associates and connections to create a giant spider web with him right in the middle of it all. As a result, many big-shot wannabes flocked to him like bees to honey in the hopes of getting stuck to his web.

But on the inside, all the smiles and bows became fake. Zhou was a tyrant, a money-minded miser. He never once spared a thought for the needy and visited his tenants only to collect their rent or to throw them out if they had no money to pay up.

Zhou paused to give Sanosuke a mild look of contempt, as was his habit with "strange foreign men who could pay for a ship ticket to travel abroad but could not afford his dirt-cheap rent" before stepping into Hui's, or as he liked to say, "his" shop. Almost instantly, every customer, especially those who still owed him rent, froze and an air of uneasy tension hung in the usually bustling eating house.

"Xiao Hui," he drawled, his oily voice permeating every dusty corner of the place. "What time is it now?"

Hui winced. She was so wrapped up in tending to Sanosuke's hand that she had forgotten about Zhou coming to collect her rent.

Zhou had a habit of chasing after his tenants, especially Hui, for the money they owed him at precisely twelve noon. Why at that time, they would never know. Perhaps it was another one of those strange obsessions of his. Or maybe he simply liked the way he looked with the light of the noon sun spilling onto either side of him.

That is, if one could ever trace out his sides without the use of a map and a compass.

"I'm sorry, Mr Zhou!" Hui began apologizing profusely. "It must have slipped my mind; I was just so busy. I promise I will have it ready by tomorrow."

"Hmmm? Busy with what?" He cocked one thin eyebrow suggestively in Sanosuke's direction. The former Zanza glared at him. How dare he make such a suggestion about Hui!

"I'm very sorry…" said Hui again. Zhou waved a fat hand dismissively in her direction. "My, my, you seem to be taking after your parents, Xiao Hui." He remarked coolly, knowing full well that by now, everyone was listening with rapt attention. "Your father took up quite a lot of space, and now you…"

Sanosuke clenched his fists angrily. _You're the one taking up more space than you should, you big load of lard!_

Hui lowered her head in shame. She hated it whenever her landlord brought up the issue of her parents who had tried to evade paying rent when they ran out of money.

The landlord sighed. "But since you're such a pretty, innocent little girl, I can't simply turn you out into the streets. It's so unsafe for someone like you to be outdoors at night. Tell you what: I'll give you another two weeks. Two weeks from now, and I'll be back at noon sharp." He held up two stubby fingers in front of him and walked out, shoving past Sanosuke.

Hui heaved a sigh of relief. At least he was gone.

For now.

What would she do two weeks from now?

She hated noon because of Zhou Chu Wei. And what he did to "pretty, innocent little girls" like her.

The young girl felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She glanced up and looked right into Sanosuke's eyes. The tall man grinned at her. "Daijoubu," he told her. "It'll be all right."

…

As the day faded into evening, which in turn faded into night, the sun began its slow, gradual descent down the sky. Finally, the orange globe melted into the sea of azure blue, setting both water and sky on fire as its glow spread throughout.

It was a beautiful sight to behold.

Two people sat together on a grassy hill, admiring this scene as was their daily ritual every since they first met each other. Even though she knew that many would disapprove of their doing so, Hui still stubbornly carried out the practice. With both her parents dead and buried, and no relatives that she knew of, what "family name" did she have that she could tarnish with her actions? She has no use for the family pride nonsense that most people living in Shanghai treated like a fragile vase that could shatter any time.

She liked- no, enjoyed- the time she spent with Sanosuke. He was the only who understood all her troubles.

Sanosuke, on the other hand, appreciated Hui for being able to help him without so much as a disgusted look with an equally disgusted comment about "foreign strangers".

He still remembered clearly how they first met years ago when he first stepped foot in Shanghai.

…

"_I'm so hungry," Sanosuke grumbled to himself as his stomach growled for what seemed like the tenth time that day. How many days has it been since I last ate?_

_He allowed his mind to travel back to the unfinished bowl of noodles that he had consumed when no one was looking a few days back. The thin strands of noodles tasted cold as they slid down his throat. _

_The former Zanza made a face. He certainly did not want to think about the last thing he had eaten it was enough to make him feel like throwing up. _

_Just then, he noticed a rather attractive-looking young girl who had been cornered by a group of large bullies. They seemed to be demanding something from her, gesturing to her purse. Their victim kept shaking her head as if refusing._

_"Come on Hui," one of them was saying. "Surely you need a fuller purse than that? Why don't we help you achieve that?  
_

_"No, no!" the girl called "Hui" protested, shaking her head. "I told you I don't want to!"_

_"What if we want to?"_

_"Then that's too bad. She doesn't want to and that's the end of the story." Sanosuke heard himself saying. _

_The large men turned toward him with a glare. "What's that?"_

_"Please, don't." begged Hui. She looked clearly frightened."_

_"I say we take him on." Suggested one of them. "That scrawny chicken won't even last a micro-second…"_

_"Heh," Sanosuke interrupted him, cracking his knuckles. _

_….._

……

…

_Soon, all of them lay slumped on the ground. _

_"I hate being called a scrawny chicken." Sanosuke muttered. "Are you all right there?" he asked the girl, Hui._

_"Oh, I'm all right, thank you very much. How about you?"_

_Sanosuke looked up at her and grinned. An idea has just presented itself in his mind. _

_"Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I haven't eaten anything in days…" he began, hoping she wouldn't whack him with her purse and call him a beggar like so many others had. _

_A smile spread across Hui's face. "I can fix that. Come with me!" And with that, she tugged him along. _

_That was how they met. _

…

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Author's Note: IT IS DONE! FINALLY, I FEEL A GRAT ESSENTIAL RUSH OF RELIEF! And no, I'm not talking about a trip to the loo. Heheheh.

Hui is a girl Sanosuke met in China… I think that fact's pretty clear to you all by now… some of you were asking whether Megumi and Hui are two separate characters or what.

As for the term "xiao"… it's actually an affectionate term used by adults to address children… the word means "little" in Chinese. So as you see, Zhou was actually being rather sarcastic when he called her "Xiao Hui"… he did not use it in an affectionate way at all.

Next chapter will most likely be focused on Sanosuke and Hui again… I will not say anymore. I will try… no I must update more often… as often as I can, when my studies allow me… I am taking a major exam that will influence the next step of my life's happiness… -stress!-

Until the Next Update

-grin5-

mC


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